St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-29
They Insist Upon Full Inves-
tigation Of the Act Of
Sheriff Richter.
He Thought He Was Stopping
the Flight Of an Escap-
ing Prisoner.
An Important Witness Miss
ing and the Inquest Was
Not Finished.

Crowds of colored men stood in knots
and groups about the county buildings
yesterday morning excitedly discussing
the tragic shooting of Timothy Graham
by Sheriff Richter the night before.
When Coroner Quinn drove up, although
he had already signifed his intention of
holding an inquest, he was besieged
with inquiries as to whether the
killing would be investigated, the
friends of Graham demanding that it be
done at once. Their expressions were
extremely bitter and insinuating, and
one of their number went so far as to 90
to the municipal court and demand a
warrant for the sheriff's arrest. They
insist that the matter must be brought
before the grand jury and thoroughly
examined. Ii there is any ground for
this demand it has not yet come to light,
but it is claimed that there are mySter-
ious and sensational features connected
with the affair which must be brought
out.
Several incidents were developed at
the inquest held at Mccarthy & DON
nelly's mOrgue yesterday afternoon,
which have direct bearing on the case,
but the most important witness, Henry
Shields, night watchman at the Jail,
could not be found by the officers,
and the inquest had to be ad-
lourned until II o'clock this morning.
The coroner's jury was sworn at 2
o'clock. 1t is an exceptionally intelli-
gent jury. 1t consists of John Sum-
len, liveryman; William Lindeke.
wholesale dry goods; William Bickel,
banker; A. S. Perkins, carriage manu-
facturer, and Thomas II. Lyle, the we'll
known colored barber.
THREE WITNESSES WE'RE HEARD.
Sheriff Richter, Sol Hall, janitor at
the city hall, and Chris Peters, propri-
etOr of the beer saloon directly opposite
the jail. Sheriff Richter told substan-
TALLY the same story published in the
account of the killing yesterday morn
ing. He testified that he entered his
office about ten minutes before IL
O'Clock and took off his overcoat and
boots, putting on his slippers. He con-
tinued:
I went out and got the key to the safe in
which all the Jail keys are locked and went
down stairs IN the basement to look around
and see that the doors were all locked, as is
turned to the left to go into the cellar. The
prisoners clothes had been washed that day,
and the clothes were hanging on lines in the
cellar. As came in / saw the body and legs
oI man nlQ among .tne CLONES. Or
dered him to come out and he crouched
down farther to conceal himself When l
pushed the clothes to one side to get a
glimpse of him, he darted by me and out into
the corridor leading to the street entrance.
He had his hat over his face and could not
see who he was. 1 ordered him to halt twice,
and show me his face. He did not obey, and
Thought he was some escaping prisoner or
some one who had come there to assist a
prisoner to escape. He was close to the door
leading to the street, and l did not
know whether the door was locked
or not, SO l pulled my revolver and
fired. He fell on his face, and did not stop
to look at him, but ran up stairs, and tele-
phoned to DR.. Ancker, and sent for my attor-
ney, Walter Sanborn. When they came we
sent for Chief of Police Clark, County Attor-
ney Egan, and Coroner Quinn.
THE BASEMENT OF THE JAIL.
In order to better understand the
scene of the shooting, the jury visited
the Jail. The basement where the shoot
ing occurred, occupies all the room di-
rectly under the part of the building
used for county offices and for the
Sheriff's residence. and extends as far
back as the wall of the Jail proper.
Street entrance.